Optical and Copper Transceiver Identifier

ABSTRACT

A hand-held-transceiver identifier device includes a processor device contained in a housing. A port is contained in the housing to receive a transceiver. A display is contained in the housing. Upon insertion of the transceiver in the port, the device interrogates the transceiver to obtain specification information. A computer-implemented method of identifying a transceiver device detects an insertion of the transceiver device, interrogates the transceiver device to obtain specification information, and detects a removal of the transceiver device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to electronic devices, and moreparticularly to optical or copper transceiver identifiers that areaffixed to computing devices.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Communication technologies involving so-called “optical transceivers” or“copper transceivers” are employed in a wide variety of communicationenvironments. Examples of such communication environments include, butare not limited to, telecommunications, networking, data communications,industrial communication links, medical communications links, etc. Innetworking environments, fiber optics have traditionally been employedin the network core as long-haul backbones. More recently, fiber optictechnologies have been implemented at the network edge, e.g.,metropolitan area network (“MAN”) and local area network (“LAN”)environments. Examples of other environments in which such communicationtechnologies are being deployed include network operation centers,corporate network backbone, central offices, and edge/core aggregationpoints.

In a communication environment such as a large datacenter or testingenvironment, a large number of different types of transceivers can befound. These transceivers can vary by vendor, speed, wavelength, andoperating range.

In the current art, the identification of these varying characteristicscan only be performed by physically checking an associated label locatedon the respective transceiver. However, labels currently contain varyingamounts of information, from a simple label having a part and serialnumber, to a more detailed label with supported speeds and wavelength.Any information not included on the respective label must be looked upin a reference publication. For a large number of unknown transceivers,the process of identifying varying characteristics in this manner can betime and resource consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the foregoing, a need exists for an apparatus and method ofidentifying an optical or copper transceiver which does not require thephysical checking of a label, or the research of specifications in areference publication. The apparatus should be compatible with a widevariety of existing form factors and standards to make an implementationcost-effective and efficient.

Accordingly, in one embodiment, the present invention is a hand heldtransceiver identifier device, comprising a processor device containedin a housing, a port contained in the housing to receive a transceiver,and a display contained in the housing, wherein, upon insertion of thetransceiver in the port, the device interrogates the transceiver toobtain specification information.

In another embodiment, the present invention is a computer-implementedmethod of identifying a transceiver device comprising detecting aninsertion of the transceiver device, interrogating the transceiverdevice to obtain specification information, and detecting a removal ofthe transceiver device.

In still another embodiment, the present invention is a method ofmanufacturing a hand-held transceiver identifier device comprisingproviding a processor device contained in a housing, providing a portcontained in the housing to receive a transceiver, and providing adisplay contained in the housing, wherein, upon insertion of thetransceiver in the port, the device interrogates the transceiver toobtain specification information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of the invention will be readilyunderstood, a more particular description of the invention brieflydescribed above will be rendered by reference to specific embodimentsthat are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the inventionwill be described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary optical transceiver device;

FIG. 2 illustrates a transceiver identifier device according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 3A illustrates a first exemplary display screen of the transceiveridentifier device illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 3B illustrates a second exemplary display screen of the transceiveridentifier device illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4A illustrates exemplary subcomponents of a transceiver identifierdevice;

FIG. 4B illustrates exemplary software or firmware subcomponentsexecuting on a transceiver identifier device; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method of operation of a transceiveridentifier device according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Some of the functional units described in this specification have beenlabeled as modules in order to more particularly emphasize theirimplementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented asa hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmablehardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmablearray logic, programmable logic devices, or the like.

Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by varioustypes of processors. An identified module of executable code may, forinstance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computerinstructions that may, for instance, be organized as an object,procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identifiedmodule need not be physically located together, but may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations that, when joinedlogically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purposefor the module.

Indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or manyinstructions, and may even be distributed over several different codesegments, among different programs, and across several memory devices.Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated hereinwithin modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organizedwithin any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may becollected as a single data set, or may be distributed over differentlocations including over different storage devices, and may exist, atleast partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus,appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” andsimilar language throughout this specification may, but do notnecessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details areprovided, such as examples of programming, software modules, userselections, network transactions, database queries, database structures,hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide athorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled inthe relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may bepracticed without one or more of the specific details, or with othermethods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances,well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown ordescribed in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a transceiver device 10 compatible with a gigabitinterface converter (GBIC) interface. Device 10 may be a Broadcom®Gigabit copper transceiver device, part number BCM5421S. In otherembodiments, devices 10 can be transceiver devices compliant with smallform factor pluggable (SFP) interfaces, such as an Intel® TXN3115D2optical transceiver, or compliant with an XFP interface.

Device 10 can include specifications which vary according to the device10. For example, the TXN3115D2 device 10 operates at a wavelength of 850nanometers (nm) at 4.25 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) (4× Fibre Channelrate). Additional specification information can include theaforementioned vendor, part number, supported speed, and wavelengthinformation, and further include a respective serial number andsupported maximum distance. However, other information may be alsorelevant to the device 10.

Turning to FIG. 2, an example of a hand-held transceiver identifierdevice is depicted according to the present invention. Identifier device12 includes a SFP port 14, an XFP port 16, and a GBIC port 18. SFP port14 is shown receiving a transceiver device 10. In a separate embodiment,a single port could be adapted to receive a variety of transceiverdevices 10 having varying form factors. Ports 14, 16, and 18 arecontained within housing 20. The top surface 22 of a housing 20 includesselection buttons 24 and a display 26. Display 26 can include suchdisplay devices as a liquid crystal display (LCD) 26 and similardisplays that are known in the art.

Display 26 can include a so-called “touch screen” functionality to allowa user to select menu features or perform tasks using the identifierdevice 12. Display 26 can also incorporate a graphical user interface(GUI) to present information to a user in accordance with certainfunctionality for a particular application. Device 12 can be powered byany method known in the art, for example using a set of AA or AAAbattery power sources (not shown).

FIG. 3A illustrates a first exemplary screen which can be presented withdisplay 26. Display 26 includes several segmented portions as will bedescribed and are presented according to an example GUI. A time window28 displays a current time. Battery indicator 30 displays a batterystrength.

Window 32 displays specification information associated with aparticular transceiver, such as vendor, part number (shown here as PT#), serial number (shown here as S/N), supported operating speed,wavelength (shown here as W/L), and supported distance. Below window 32,cancel touch-screen button 34 allows a user to return to a previousmenu. Save-to-database touch-screen button 36 allows a user to save thedisplayed specification information to a respective database. As oneskilled in the art will appreciate, display 26 and windows 28, 30, 32,and buttons 34 and 36 can be easily tailored via onboard software and/orfirmware to suit a particular application.

FIG. 3A illustrates the display of specifications relating to anexemplary copper transceiver device 10. A Broadcom® BCM5461 havingserial number 133324 has been inserted into the SFP port 14 in thedevice 12. In some cases, specification information such as wavelengthwill not be applicable. Again, additional information can be relevant toa particular transceiver 10 and can also be presented on display 26.

An additional example of specification information as presented ondisplay 26 is illustrated by FIG. 3B. Again, windows 28,30, 34, andbuttons 34, and 36 are shown. In the instant example, an Intel® TXW31015optical transceiver having serial number 123456 has been inserted. Thespeed is displayed to be 4 Gbps, with an associated wavelength of 850 nmand a supported distance of 300 m.

Identifier device 12 can make use of several computing and processingsub-components. Turning to FIG. 4A, device 12 includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 40 that is connected via a signal bearing mediumto mass storage device 42, such as a hard drive or similar component.Onboard memory 44, such as electrically eraseable programmable read onlymemory (EEPROM) or similar devices, is also connected. A communicationport 46 allows device 12 to connect remotely to a communication network48 via methods known in the art such as IEEE 802.xx and similartechnologies. Communication network 48 can include local or wide areanetworks known in the art (LAN, WAN, etc.). Network 48 is shown coupledto remote computer systems 50, 52.

Device 12 can incorporate a variety of firmware and software to performspecific functionality. An example can be found in FIG. 4B. Databasemodule 54 can process database information in a variety of formats. Forexample database module 54 can include relational databases known in theart. Database module 54 is shown connected to processing module 56 toexecute computing tasks and to storage module 58, which implementsstorage and retrieval functionality. Again, as one skilled in the artwill appreciate, a vast array of hardware, software, firmware and othercomponents can be implemented to perform a specific task and adapted fora specific application.

Turning to FIG. 5, an example method of operation of device 12,according to the present invention, is shown. Method 60 begins (step 62)by performing an auto-sensing function to detect the insertion of atransceiver (step 64). Once a user has inserted the transceiver 10, thedevice powers on (step 66). The device then interrogates the transceiverdevice to obtain all relevant specification information for therespective transceiver (step 68). Again, the specification informationcan include the information previously described.

As a next step, the device queries whether all of the desiredinformation has been obtained from the transceiver device itself (step72). For example, in some cases, a particular transceiver device mayprovide only a vendor and part number information. If additionalinformation is still needed, the device can utilize database module 54to cross reference the vendor and part number to auto-populate adatabase field with specification information. The additionalspecification information could be stored on mass storage device 42,memory 44, or elsewhere (for example, on a remote computer system 50,52).

Once the relevant specification information is auto-populated, theinformation can be again displayed. Respective specification informationcan be manipulated and displayed by software to suit a particularapplication or a particular need of a user. As a next step, device 12can auto-sense the removal of a transceiver (step 76). The device 12 canthen power itself off (step 78). Method 60 then ends (step 80).

In certain embodiments, software, hardware, or firmware operating onidentifying device 12 can interrogate a transceiver device 10 to, ineffect, “test” the transceiver 10 to see if the transceiver device 10 isfully operational and/or satisfies certain testing criteria. Suchhardware, software, or firmware components can be configured and adaptedusing methods known in the art.

Again, in general, software and/or hardware to implement variousembodiments of the present invention, or other functions previouslydescribed, such as the described auto-sensing function, can be createdusing tools currently known in the art.

While one or more embodiments of the present invention have beenillustrated in detail, the skilled artisan will appreciate thatmodifications and adaptations to those embodiments may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention as set forth in thefollowing claims.

1. A hand held transceiver identifier device, comprising: a processordevice contained in a housing; a port contained in the housing toreceive a transceiver; and a display contained in the housing, wherein,upon insertion of the transceiver in the port, the device interrogatesthe transceiver to obtain specification information.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the display includes a liquid crystal display (LCD)display.
 3. The device of claim 1, wherein the port is compatible with agigabit interface converter (GBIC), a small form factor pluggable (SFP),or an XFP standard.
 4. The device of claim 1, further including adatabase module operating on the processor device, wherein the devicecross references the specification information obtained from thetransceiver with stored data maintained in the database.
 5. The deviceof claim 4, wherein the database module auto-populates a database fieldshown on the display with the stored data.
 6. The device of claim 1,wherein the specification information includes vendor, part number,serial number, supported speed, wavelength, and supported maximumdistance.
 7. The device of claim 1, further including a selection buttonintegrated into a surface of the housing to perform a menu selectionfunction.
 8. A computer-implemented method of identifying a transceiverdevice, comprising: detecting an insertion of the transceiver device;interrogating the transceiver device to obtain specificationinformation; and detecting a removal of the transceiver device.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, further initiating a power-on function upon insertionof the transceiver device.
 10. The method of claim 8, further includingdisplaying the specification information.
 11. The method of claim 8,further including cross referencing the specification information withstored data maintained in a database.
 12. The method of claim 11,further including auto-populating a database field with informationobtained from the stored data.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein thetransceiver device is compatible with a gigabit interface converter(GBIC), a small form factor pluggable (SFP), or an XFP standard.
 14. Amethod of manufacturing a hand held transceiver identifier device,comprising: providing a processor device contained in a housing;providing a port contained in the housing to receive a transceiver; andproviding a display contained in the housing, wherein, upon insertion ofthe transceiver in the port, the device interrogates the transceiver toobtain specification information.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinthe display includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) display.
 16. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the port is compatible with a gigabitinterface converter (GBIC), a small form factor pluggable (SFP), or anXFP standard.
 17. The method of claim 14, further including a databasemodule operating on the processor device, wherein the device crossreferences the specification information obtained from the transceiverwith stored data maintained in the database.
 18. The method of claim 17,wherein the database module auto-populates a database field shown on thedisplay with the stored data.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein thespecification information includes vendor, part number, serial number,supported speed, wavelength, and supported maximum distance.
 20. Themethod of claim 14, further including the step of providing a selectionbutton integrated into a surface of the housing to perform a menuselection function.